Take Down
How much fps does a pellet gun need to be to take down a squirrel?
I am trying to purchase a pellet gun. I want it to be able to take down small game like squirrels, birds, rabbits things like that. But im not sure how power full it needs to be to kill those animals. So it would help if you know. Thanks.
You should actually be using ft-lbs (fpe) instead of fps to measure how much energy is needed to kill an animal. That's because the fps claims are almost always exaggerated. (Companies typically take a gun that's dieseling, shoot the lightest pellets they can find, and take the highest recorded velocity figure for their claims.) As a result of this exaggeration you don't get a good indication of what the gun will actually do when you use the sorts of ammunition that is designed for hunting. (A good way to approximate the actual velocity you'll see with medium weight pellets is to take 10% of the manufacturer's claimed velocity and subtract it from the claimed velocity.) FPE on the other hand takes the weight of the pellet into account when it figures the energy level so it produces a more accurate figure for how powerful an airgun really is.(1)(2)
As for how much energy you need for various animals, Bob Beeman came up with a rough guideline (which assumes perfect shot placement) for the minimum power for various species years ago.(3) According to him, mice and sparrows require 2 ft-lbs of impact energy. Starlings, pigeons, and squirrels require 3 ft-lbs of impact energy. Cottontail rabbits and rats require 5 ft-lbs of impact energy. Jackrabbits require 8 ft-lbs of impact energy. Remember these are minimum, impact energy figures... Having a nice big safety margin of extra energy is a very, very good thing, especially if you're not a crack shot. Jim Chapman expanded on this a bit by including what he considers minimum energy levels for larger animals here.(4)
As for how much power an airgun needs... For birds up to the size of pigeons, a gun (like the Crosman 760, Crosman 664, and Daisy 880) that generates 5-7 fpe should be able to generate enough impact energy for shots out to 20 yards or so. A gun with 6-7 fpe should be able to take squirrel at 15 yards (maybe a hair more) if you put the pellet where it needs to go. However its really too light for rabbit at anything but the shortest range (5 yards or so). A gun in the 9-12 fpe range (like the Crosman 2100, Crosman 2260, and UK legal springers) is capable of taking birds and squirrels out to 25-30 yards. And it can take rabbits at 15-30 yards, depending on shot placement and exactly how much power the gun produces. A gun in the 14-22 fpe range (Gamo Big Cat, Crosman Phantom, RWS 34, Benjamin Discovery) can take birds, squirrels, and rabbits out to at least 30-40 yards and likely a good bit further. A gun in the 25+ fpe range (RWS 350, Walther Falcon Hunter, Benjamin Marauder, Airforce Condor, Evanix AR6...) can take birds, rabbits, and squirrel out to 40+ yards with the limiting factor being accuracy not power.
At this point I feel the need to point out that while its important to have the minimum power level, its equally, perhaps more, important to be able to precisely place the shot. That's because airguns don't have the energy levels of a .22 rimfire, much less a shotgun or centerfire rifle. As a result you need to put the pellet in exactly the right spot to make the most of the energy it does have. And since the kill zones on most small game animals are usually .5 to 1 inch in diameter...
If you have to have a rough approximation based on actual velocities with medium weight pellets...
A .177 caliber gun that gets a velocity of around 600-630 fps should have about 6-7 fpe (actual). A .22 caliber gun that gets about 550 fps should have about 7-8 fpe. A .177 calibre gun that gets 700-900 fps (actual) should produce somewhere between 9 and 15 fpe. A .22 caliber gun that gets 600-700 fps (actual) will give you 12-15 fpe. A .22 caliber gun that gets 800+ fps (actual) will produces 20+ fpe.
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